The Runic Alchemist

Damian picked up the short sword the beastman runesmith had made for him, just delivered into his room. He examined it carefully before placing it back down. In front of him lay several pieces of steel armor, many of which he didn't even know how to use.

Not wasting time, he started putting them on, having packed all his other supplies in his spatial storage the previous night. The room was now empty, save for his bed and ink stains scattered across the floor. It was still early morning, but this was the best time to move.

The scouts keeping an eye on the camp could already see that they were planning to retreat, and they might have some countermeasures in place. But they wouldn't be able to act on it. Damian's group would be the ones to spring the surprise today.

'Knock, knock.'

"Can I come in?"

Damian had only managed to get two pieces of armor on when someone knocked on his door. It was Valoris's sister, Makayla. He hadn't even thought about her, but strangely, he felt relieved to see her alive and well.

"Yes, come in," he said.

She entered the room with a smile, clad in armor that looked freshly polished.

"Oh, you're getting ready?" she said, glancing at the armor pieces scattered on the bed.

"Yes, at least trying to."

"Haha, let me help."

"Ah, thank you."

She approached and picked up the small shoulder plate from his hands, placing it carefully on his shoulder. One by one, she fastened the armor pieces without a word. Damian wondered why she was there.

"Uhm, thank you. Did someone send you here?" he asked after she finished, stepping back to admire her work with a satisfied, happy smile.

"No, I heard what happened and wanted to check on you. They said you were injured when I first arrived. Why are you armoring up, though?" she asked, meeting his gaze.

"For the retreat to succeed," Damian answered honestly. There was no point in deceiving her.

"...Kid, are you done? Let's go al—Huh?"

Vidalia barged into the room, accompanied by her two guards. Damian had seen the guards standing around countless times, but they had never fought alongside him. They weren't present during the emergency at the wall or the airborne battle with the Moondancer, and they had been injured in the initial attack on the building. He wondered if they would prove useful today at all.

"Commander," Makayla bowed respectfully to Vidalia. She ruffled Damian's hair slightly, smiled warmly, and then left the room. That was all? She really had just come to check on him? Both Valoris and his sister were exceptions to the typical noble behavior, it always caught him off guard.

"Are you ready?" Vidalia asked, her eyes scanning him from head to toe.

Damian nodded and followed her outside. She flew all four of them to the camp's outer perimeter near the Wraith's Passage. In a nearby tent, Aramis, Tristan, Esme, the stoic pugilist, with Lysandrea were already gathered. A few other powerful second-rank nobles were present as well, but they weren't coming.

They were responsible for the hasty retreat to the entrance of the Dreaded Lands once the surprise attack was launched, keeping the third-rankers and their waygate occupied.

After relaying the instructions once more, Vidalia, her two second-rank guards, and the five top-class noble fighters left the camp and gathered around Damian, who had distanced himself from the group. He was never one for dramatic entrances, preferring a leisurely pace—even though he was headed for the biggest fight of his life.

"Let's go," Vidalia ordered.

Damian nodded in response. As they walked, he retrieved as many wormhole scrolls as he could from his spatial storage, handing two to each of them to hold. He also kept two for himself, though they were too large for his small frame.

"Keep them unrolled and pointed in the direction we're going. We need to move as quickly as possible," Damian instructed. Everyone nodded—they already knew the plan and the importance of maintaining speed to prevent the scouts from reporting ahead of them.

Damian activated the runic circle on one of the nine parchment scrolls in his hands, and as it gathered mana and opened a wormhole far in the distance, he quickly activated another one, keeping it tethered to his mana string but not fully activating it.

After walking through the first adult-sized wormhole, he launched the second and kept it ready, all while activating one of Esme's scrolls as they passed through. Soon, repeating the process and restocking the rolls when empty from his storage they broke into a light run, keeping the rolls activated and in check as they sped forward.

With each step, Damian's pace quickened. Soon, he was running at a speed so fast that even if some Esper was scouting ahead, they wouldn't be able to keep up. In under a few minutes, he burned through fifty to fifty-five wormhole scrolls—his hard work from the night before used up in mere seconds. But it did the job.

Before anyone in Ashenvale could react, they found themselves atop the wall overlooking the resting camp of the Ashenvale host. The enemy would never have expected Eldoris to attack after suffering such losses, especially while preparing for retreat.

Finally, with the last wormhole scroll burning in Tristan's hands, Damian stopped, overlooking a large tent below the wall.

"Who's there?" Vidalia asked, standing beside him. Damian pulled out the last two scrolls from his storage.

"Threadripper... Moondancer is in that one," Damian pointed toward two of the largest tents spread across the vast area below.

"Let's go, then," Vidalia said, unsheathing her sword. The others followed her lead, drawing their weapons. Damian opened the final two wormholes, connecting them directly outside the two tents. Was this idea of trying to attack and cripple or injure one of them stupid or exactly what they needed..? Well, they will find out soon enough.

Damian also had his short sword on his hip as he stepped into the glowing purple wormhole.

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